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Crockett + Tubbs ≠ Jeeves + Wooster

Ran across the following in a New York Times article about the impact of the TV series Miami Vice on men’s fashion — specifically, the rise of the Floppy Suit:
When he orchestrated the look of the original show, Mr. Mann was venturing into stylistic territory already staked out by Italian designers...[like] Giorgio Armani, the man generally credited with introducing the world to the unconstructed suit — that is, without padding, a lining or internal stiffening. This might be as good a time as any to amend the old canard about Mr. Armani being the inventor of the floppy suit. It was long a staple of Neapolitan haberdashery, developed by tailors sent to London by wealthy patrons to apprentice on Savile Row. Being superior craftsmen, the tailors absorbed everything there was to know about British cuts and suit construction. Being Neapolitans, they blithely tossed out the window most of the knowledge they had acquired. It is generally too hot in Naples to dress like Bertie Wooster. [emphasis mine]

Jeeves would doubtless be gratified to know that his efforts have made Mr. Wooster synonymous with conservative Savile Row tailoring.

[identity profile] soupytwist.livejournal.com 2006-07-20 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Hah, we already knew Jeeves had totally won that battle, but it's amusing to see just how complete his victory was. Bwah.

[personal profile] selkiechick 2006-07-20 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
... and now we know why Jeeves was so adamant about even the little things... it's a slippery slope to riun, and it leads to unshaven men in runpled linen... scandalous indeed!

[identity profile] innocentsmith.livejournal.com 2006-07-20 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Deeply gratified indeed. Somehow, purple socks and red cummerbunds have all been overcome, and Jeeves has managed to produce his generation's Beau Brummell. Only nicer. Hmm...Brummell = (Jeeves + Wooster) - 100 years and a bit?

[identity profile] peak-in-darien.livejournal.com 2006-07-20 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh yes, I imagine Jeeves would be smiling. Thanks for posting this.

[identity profile] rosamundeb.livejournal.com 2006-07-21 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
*G* But now we really need somebody to photoshop Bertie into a Miami Vice suit!

[identity profile] burntcopper.livejournal.com 2006-07-22 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
You know perfectly well it'd last two minutes before Jeeves somehow managed to ruin it/squirrel it away to the nearest deserving cause that cared not so much about sartorial matters.

[identity profile] rosamundeb.livejournal.com 2006-07-22 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, but it'd bea funny image! *G*